Wisdom of Ecology and Culture
Two students of SMA 2 state senior high school in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, can be called ecological and cultural warriors.
Two students of SMA 2 state senior high school in Palangkaraya, Central Kalimantan, can be called ecological and cultural warriors.
They discovered tree roots that could be used treat cancer called bajakah in the Dayak language. The research has won a gold medal in South Korea.
The phenomenon of bajakah has received widespread responses, including from President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo. The President considers the finding to be a major discovery. As bajakah has become more well known, the high school students are being sought after by many pharmaceutical companies , while there has been the emergence of the massive exploitation of trees that are considered to be the roots of bajakah.
However, on the basis of concern that forests in Central Kalimantan will be destroyed, they keep their mouths shut about the roots of the original bajakah. Whenever there are questions about it being used to treat cancer, they keep their mouths shut.
According to research at Lambung Mangkurat University, the roots of this plant cannot be cultivated. But there are 200 types of bajakah, some are even poisonous.
Ecological wisdom
These young people are idealistic figures. They reject fame and wealth if that means exposing the secrets of Kalimantan\'s forests. "We don\'t want this discovery to be used to exploit our forests. We want Kalimantan forests to be sustainable for hundreds of years."
Indonesia, with tens of thousands of islands, is a natural chain with abundant biological wealth.
Indonesia, with tens of thousands of islands, is a natural chain with abundant biological wealth. National cultural identities of hundreds of ethnicities and languages produce a variety of proverbs, folklore, local wisdoms, and so on, which must be related to the ecological aspects in which they live.
In the study of anthropology, there is the concept of cultural ecology that inspires the spirit of local knowledge.
Traditional communities on the hillsides, on the edge of the forests, on the banks of rivers, on the coasts, have authentic ideas in celebrating relations with nature, being creative and ethical toward them. This is what ecological anthropology studies because humans actually depend on nature, although the development of knowledge and technology makes it seem as if humans have determinism over nature (Nora Haenn dan Richard R Wilk, 2006).
In fact, in the last four decades we have faced an ecological crisis. Every minute we see the destruction of the biological environment. Unfortunately, the reaction to the crisis is still pejorative, subordinative, caricature and partial. Consuming plastic waste is still a custom. Water and soil sources are poisoned by mercury and potassium for gold and fish. Trees and leaves are not valued as oxygen suppliers and intellectual, spiritual or magical inspiration.
The current environmental crisis is still caused by two things. First, logocentrism that nature and all things are fully mandated to humans. There is a negative dialectic of anthropocentrism that everything that is important in life is centered on humans as the core of universality. Anthropocentrism becomes the raison d\'etre of the birth of materialistic and hedonistic knowledge and technology, which is aggressive and corrosive to nature.
Second, the diminishing values of human spirituality to nature. Humans who should be present respecting nature and living side by side in peace have become natural terrorists (eco-terrorists) (Liddick, 2006).
There must be strict and severe legal action.
Although the discourse of eco-terrorism emerged at the beginning of the 20th century, it has become a real threat since the 1980s, when humans felt the effects of environmental damage that led to the extinction of human civilization. Environmental terror by mining and plantation companies, including the phenomenon of forest and land burning, can no longer be solved by customary law. There must be strict and severe legal action.
What can prevent humans from destructing nature is cosmological awareness of transedental and metaphysical values . Unfortunately, transcendental values and state-recognized religion clashes.
Limp state
he state is not yet a protector of ecological wisdom. Nawacita (nine-point program), for example, does not mention saving the environment. When the concept of culture is mentioned, environmental aspects are not considered to be related to cultural growth and promotion.
Even the concept of development in Indonesia from the periphery, from villages, and from outside Java, still intensifies infrastructure projects that are sure to harm the environment, as seen in Papua.
Law No. 5 of 2017 on the advancement of culture fails to thoroughly express the spirit of ecological protection. In Article 4 of Law No. 5/2017, which regulates the purpose of cultural promotion in 10 points, none of them declare "environmental" diction.
Phrases such as "developing noble cultural values of the nation", "enriching cultural diversity", "realizing civil society", "preserving national cultural heritage", "strengthening national identity", are still empty of discourse on a sustainable environment.
In fact, traditional societies have made nature an identity.
Likewise, the object of cultural advancement (Article 5). Of the 10 objects, (oral traditions, manuscripts, customs, rites, traditional knowledge, traditional technology, arts, languages, folk games, and traditional sports), no one considers the environment as an object. In fact, traditional societies have made nature an identity.
In fact, there is a lot of ethno-botanical wealth that we need to care for. Not only bajakah, but also camphor, aloes, sandalwood, like manee (Acehnese) as the bones of ships, including cannabis, which is often criminalized as evil plants. Wisdom is needed to maintain the diversity from the imperialists and predators.
Teuku Kemal Fasya
National Cultural Week on Oct. 7-13, 2019 must be seen as a message that cultural development without the protection of traditional nature will mean necroculture, the home of death for culture.
Teuku Kemal Fasya, Lecturer of Anthropology, University of Malikussaleh, Lhokseumawe, Aceh
